


Double the Surprise

by xsycamore



Category: Midnight Cinderella (Video Game)
Genre: Birthday Party, Gen, Humor, wholesome moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:49:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28918617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xsycamore/pseuds/xsycamore
Summary: This 23th of January Alyn has plans, Leo has plans, and as a result the princess elect of Wysteria makes some of her own.
Kudos: 1





	Double the Surprise

“What leads you here, Alyn?” The princess asks behind the stack of documents she rearranges atop of her desk. Standing in front of her is the captain of the knights’ guard who appears to be uncertain of his approach to the reply of this question.

“Well. I’m thankful you made it so I can have the day off tomorrow, since it’s my birthday. I was thinking about how to spend my time. I’m not really the type to celebrate.”

She blinks, fingers entangled below her chin. “It’s perfectly good if you don’t desire to be around tomorrow. You’re free to do as you wish.”

Alyn exhales as if the conversation has taken a turn in a different direction that what he had in mind, which only puts him in a harder situation of getting to his point. “There is another person who happens to have a birthday tomorrow.”

“Alyn, I know Leo is your twin brother.” The princess deadpans.

“… and as you know, I might have treated him without much care in the past years,”

“You mean the better part of your life?” The princess interrupts him, keeping her features composed as she rearranges the already neat stack of documents again. Not that she wants to scold him or anything, she knows he has his reasons – but the past months she and Leo have become close, and the occasional slips of the tongue let her know Leo actually feels bad for the whole thing going on between him and Alyn. Which leads to her feeling bad about it, since she might be the only person that happens to get along with both brothers. Isn’t she meant to be the link between them and do something about it?

“Yes, alright, you seem familiar with our background. Can I get back to the topic?”

“Anytime.”

Alyn exhales again and he isn’t sure if he even inhaled in the first place. The princess gestures him to take a seat before he can collapse under the weight of this own uncertainty. Or before he can leave the office at once and decide to go abroad for his birthday and never return back.

“I want to make a surprise party for Leo.”

The princess gasps. It’s a good thing she never had the time to summon Nico for a little treat of tea and biscuits because Alyn’s words are a choking hazard.

“Did I heard wrong-“

“It’s nothing special, really. I mean, it should be special. Ugh.” Alyn fidgets with the end of his cape and finally meets the princess’s eyes in hope she’d just understand his struggles already.

“You need me to help plan it out and hold you off the spotlight?”

“Yes. If that’s alright with you.”

The princess drums her fingers on the surface of the desk. Leo is her friend and she was already wondering what to do for him. Hosting a small event in his honor will remind him he is much more appreciated than he thinks. If the idea is Alyn’s, Leo could as well be moved to tears. Maybe. She is curious if that’s the case. She will make it seem like it’s her idea and then boom, Alyn gets the credit, Leo clutches his heart, the two brothers eat cake together and the guests get the chance to honor them both on their birthday as they’re both figures of respect in the kingdom. Everything speaks favorably of Alyn’s plan.

“It’s very alright with me. Also, I’m appreciating the thought you put in this. Leo will be happy.”

“I guess.”

Offering Alyn a smile equaling a handshake, she speaks up with determination. “Alright, leave things to me and go get some rest, sir knight.”

Alyn smirks a bit at her use of honorifics, which was a playful mocking at how uncharacterly tense and formal he probably sounded all this time. After all, they’re a lot more casual around each other than that. Now that he spoke out his mind and everything seems to run smoothly, he feels quite relaxed.

“You too, princess. Don’t overdo it, alright?”

“Alright.” She nods sweetly and sees him out of the room.

Alright, let’s get this done. A short list of guests, a notice to the kitchen, selecting a salon for the event…

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt if she gets snacks first. After all, she first meant to do that nearly two hours ago now.

Before she could reach the doors…

_Knock Knock._

Could it be Nico reading her thoughts? “Come in!”

“Hi there princess.”

Speaking of the wolf. Leo crosses the room towards the desk and sits where Alyn was just a minute ago.

She raises an eyebrow at his sudden visit. “What leads you here, Leo?”

“Well,” Leo begins, looking around for something, perhaps for treats. “Are you hungry? Should I get us snacks?”

The princess rolls her eyes and cuts him off. “Just get back on topic.”

“Right. So, you know how I and Alyn are. Sometimes he pretends I’m invincible when we meet in the hallways.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“But then I thought, maybe I should do something about it rather than mope around. Maybe I should do something nice for him in order to be noticed and appreciated.”

Now, this is taking an interesting turn. “Like what?”

“Like… throwing him a surprise party?”

***

Seeing Leo out of the room while keeping a straight face was the hardest thing she has ever done. Harder than some of Giles’s tasks. Harder than asking King Byron for a dance. She needed master skills in the field of maintaining emotions because Leo is the type to notice things quickly. Hopefully, she got away with it.

The next hour or so was spend striding left and right in her office with her faithful attendant trying to get her to sit down. She filled Nico in the details of the recent events so they can talk about what comes next.

They came up with the perfect plan.

***

The evening of January 23th arrived in the blink of an eye. Speaking a blink, that would be equal to how much sleep the princess got the previous night.

“My lady, I’m more than happy to see you in good spirits but please don’t run around like that! There are enough people in the kingdom to take care of things in your stead!”

“I’m more than alright, Nico, you can have my word on that.” Ignoring the frowning butler, the princess entered the decorated hall once again to make sure everything is in place. The operation was a risky one after all.

She had to speak with everyone involved and make sure no one lets out a thing. Then she had to make sure Alyn and Leo don’t run into each other while dealing with preparations at the same place and at the same time. Which sounds difficult, but it turns out not to be, because all she had to do is to give them another task away from the center of events. They didn’t suspect a thing about the lively atmosphere because they already know that everyone is busy preparing for the party. Not that this was a lie, no, the princess just found it difficult not to burst into laughter when Alyn passed by his own birthday cake hidden beneath a silver lid. She then high-fived Nico who told her that he witnessed the same sight but with Leo instead.

Final minutes before the arrival of the two birthday boys and the party hall seems to be livelier than ever. With the exception of Sid who is busy keeping Alyn away, because Alyn persisted about having to be there early to make sure everything is alright, and also with the exception of Louis who is busy keeping Leo away because Leo worries about the same thing, everyone else from the guest list is present.

“I must compliment your scheming skills, princess. I don’t recall tutoring you on the field of hiding your affairs so excellently but here we are.”

Things are surely going well if Giles finds it in himself to sound humorous. To his comment, she raises her glass and hides her amused smirk behind the rim of the glass when they have their toast. “I’ll take that as a compliment Giles. Try to enjoy yourself tonight instead of worrying, will you?”

Giles nods approvingly of her offer but hurries to add something. “It seems that duke Howard and Sid ran into each other earlier. They had a quarrel over being at the same place with the Crawford siblings when they weren’t meant to, and then over some personal matters.”

“What?! Did it turn out fine for the plan?”

“Fortunately yes. I instructed Duke Howard to get Leo through the front entrance of this hall and Sid from the one at the back. That will most likely result in the two Crawfords having their encounter right in front of us in the middle.”

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you Giles?”

Casting a sideways glare at the princess, Giles takes another sip from his glass. “What can I say, it’s not everyday something interesting happens in this palace. For one, those days come more often now that we have our princess elect with us.”

Giles’s amusement brings an unbelieving expression on the princess’s face yet she can’t help but feel satisfied with herself hearing the rest of his speech.

Replying to it could wait for later. Because right now Nico is all but running to her side with an excited expression. “There they are!”

Soon a path is cleared from the crowd connecting the two entrances and all eyes switch between them. Everything gets quiet when Leo stops mid-sentence noticing no one else than Alyn at the far end opposite him. With Alyn is the same, as he shoots Sid a questioning gaze but receives only laughter in reply.

Leo points at Alyn while striding towards him. “What are you doing here?!”

Alyn stomps his way to Leo in a similar manner. “I could ask you the same?” He looks around trying to find Robert in the crowd. “Hey, weren’t you suppose to keep him away?”

Leo moves in front of him in order to take his attention again. “Wait wait what do you mean to keep me away? Robert was supposed to keep YOU away!”

Poor Robert chuckles nervously remembering the twins giving him the exact same task and then the princess telling him about the plan. She told Robert to simply stay idle and let her handle everything else, thus involving Louis and Sid with them doing the actual distraction.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Alyn tries again. “You’re not supposed to be here until I’m ready with the surprise!”

The princess cannot stay still anymore, so she decides it’s time for her to come in between them, before they can start fighting in front of everyone.

She clasps her hands twice gently to get the twins’ attention. “Alright, alright, Leo and Alyn, would you let me have the word for a second?”

Alyn put his hands on his hips. “I demand an explanation, princess.”

Leo mimics him. “So do I.”

Holding back her giggles, she makes a gesture to the servants. “You can proceed!”

Suddenly, most everyone in the large room starts singing a happy birthday tune addressed to both brothers, confetti being thrown around, and what’s more, a big tray cart is introduced in front of them. The lids come off revealing two identical birthday cakes with the difference in the names written on them.

Alyn and Leo are smitten. They recognize the cakes that they prepared for the other, and looking at the merry crowd around them, in this party hall that they both remember preparing for a birthday, things start to click.

Alyn is first to look at Leo, his expression softening to a smile. “Happy birthday, brother.”

Leo stays frozen. He turns to Alyn as if wondering if he heard right, and then without thinking much, he pulls the man in a tight hug. “Happy birthday, Alyn!”

In the middle of the hug, Alyn tries to shove his face to the side to grumble. “Hey, I just called you ‘brother’ you could do the same!”

Leo pats Alyn’s back hard, refusing to let go yet. “My precious little brother! I knew you love me!”

“Alright, enough!”

Fortunately, having the strength of a knight comes in handy when trying to pull himself away from the arms of the enthusiastic bureaucrat. Not that he can help the smile playing on his lips immediately after, seeing the happy face of Leo. He realizes he might be looking the same right now.

“Alyn, you’re so unfair! I was the one supposed to render you speechless, not the other way around.”

Alyn’s eyes soften as he puts a small smirk on his face. “Rendering you speechless for once is a good present. I should remember that. And don’t you dare feel uneasy now, we’re totally even here.”

Leo widens his eyes for a second, before his trademark smile is back on his face. “If you say so. Speaking of presents, I think it’s too early to declare a winner between me and you, bro.”

Feeling challenged, Alyn bumps Leo’s shoulder playfully. “Bring it on. I’ve got you something too.”

At the other end of the room, at the drinks table, Nico laughs as he helps himself to a pastry. “I think I saw him brushing off tears from the corners of his eyes. I think you win the bet after all, princess!”

The princess giggles at the sight, holding her head high in satisfaction. “Told you he’d get emotional! But what about Alyn? He was totally blushing!”

Nico nods in approval and Giles lets out a sigh at the subject of their interest. Though, he needs to agree that the wholesome family moment playing in front of them warmed his heart as well. Now if only Louis and Sid would stop quarreling where he sees them in the corner of his vision, everything should be to his liking.

The princess takes another sip of her drink, eyes focused at Alyn and Leo who have just finished exchanging presents and by the looks of it, they’re about to have another long hug. She closes her eyes pleasantly, nodding to herself. “And they think this is where the surprises end. Just wait until they see that I’ve invited King Byron to their birthday party.”

“YOU’VE INVITED WHO?”


End file.
